Educational games can be broadly grouped into three categories: games that are not digital; games that are digital, but that are not collaborative; and collaborative digital games. These three cohorts of kids define our school populations, and throughout their lives, they have always been immersed in the culture of digital games; it is like the air they breathe. Games are a natural way to reach young people today, and a great deal more is now known about how to develop good games both for entertainment and for education. What makes MMO (massively multiplayer online) games especially compelling and effective is the variety of sub-games or paths of engagement that are available to players — there are social aspects, large and small goals to work towards, often an interesting back story that sets the context, and more.
Institutional barriers present formidable challenges to moving forward in a constructive way with emerging technologies. Too often it is education’s own processes and practices that limit broader uptake of new technologies. Much resistance to change is simply comfort with the status quo, but in other cases, such as in promotion and tenure reviews, experimentation or innovative applications of technologies is often seen as outside the role of researcher or scientist.
Digital media literacy continues its rise in importance as a key skill in every discipline and profession. This challenge, driven by a related trend, appears here because despite the widespread agreement on the importance of digital media literacy, training in the supporting skills and techniques is rare in teacher education and non-existent in the preparation of faculty. As lecturers and professors begin to realize that they are limiting their students by not helping them to develop and use digital media literacy skills across the curriculum, the lack of formal training is being offset through professional development or informal learning, but we are far from seeing digital media literacy as a norm. This challenge is exacerbated by the fact that digital literacy is less about tools and more about thinking, and thus skills and standards based on tools and platforms have proven to be somewhat ephemeral.
Game Based Learning
2010 Horizon Report on Game Based Learning
What is game based learning?
How to Delight and Instruct in the 21st Century
Educational games can be broadly grouped into three categories: games that are not digital; games that are digital, but that are not collaborative; and collaborative digital games.
These three cohorts of kids define our school populations, and throughout their lives, they have always been immersed in the culture of digital games; it is like the air they breathe. Games are a natural way to reach young people today, and a great deal more is now known about how to develop good games both for entertainment and for education.
What makes MMO (massively multiplayer online) games especially compelling and effective is the variety of sub-games or paths of engagement that are available to players — there are social aspects, large and small goals to work towards, often an interesting back story that sets the context, and more.
http://wp.nmc.org/horizon-k12-2010/chapters/game-based-learning/
Institutional barriers present formidable challenges to moving forward in a constructive
way with emerging technologies. Too often it is education’s own processes and practices that
limit broader uptake of new technologies. Much resistance to change is simply comfort with the
status quo, but in other cases, such as in promotion and tenure reviews, experimentation or
innovative applications of technologies is often seen as outside the role of researcher or scientist.
Digital media literacy continues its rise in importance as a key skill in every discipline and
profession. This challenge, driven by a related trend, appears here because despite the
widespread agreement on the importance of digital media literacy, training in the supporting skills
and techniques is rare in teacher education and non-existent in the preparation of faculty. As
lecturers and professors begin to realize that they are limiting their students by not helping them
to develop and use digital media literacy skills across the curriculum, the lack of formal training is
being offset through professional development or informal learning, but we are far from seeing
digital media literacy as a norm. This challenge is exacerbated by the fact that digital literacy is less
about tools and more about thinking, and thus skills and standards based on tools and platforms
have proven to be somewhat ephemeral.